She's Mine!
by rogue-scholar07
Summary: OUttake from LTB. SHadowatch tries to watch a movie, but Virus' jealousy of one teammate ruins everyone's good time.


**The Dreadnoks, Virus, Lady Mastermind, and Thunderbird are not mine and probably never will be. Anyone else sprung straight from my imagination.**

**Outtake from Learning to Breathe (chapter 47). The kids fight over the TV and Virus gets jealous... just read along.**

**She's Mine!**

The seven teens never could agree on movies. Like their powers and backgrounds, their taste in cinema was diverse. From farms in Texas to the wealthy palaces in Bangladesh, the widespread differences within the team shouldn't have even allowed it to form.

Fate had other ideas.

"Not that one again!" A green-eyed girl groaned, her accent taking a firm hold of her tongue, due to her stress level. Regan Wyngarde, Italian-born illusionist codenamed Lady Mastermind, helped keep the group organized—no easy feat when the male members were taken into account. "Can't we watch Roman Holiday?"

"That's boring!" a boy with light brown hair and deep green eyes protested. The thicker gray-eyed boy next to him nodded in agreement. Bryan and Mitch Dukes, Chaos and Golem respectively, were half brothers from completely different walks. Bryan, the older, grew up on a small Texas farm and possessed the ability of flight. Mitch, born and reared on the Las Vegas strip, could turn his skin into rock. Both boys were also incredibly strong.

"Why can't we watch Die Hard?" Mitch asked.

"Because!" A raven-haired girl argued. "Let's watch Psycho or The Exorcist instead!" Kristen Mortisson, a silver-eyed girl who moved from town to town most of her life, took the codename Vampira because of her dual-heritage and bloodsucking abilities. She also possessed the ability to manipulate her body's molecules.

"That's scary." A ruddy-skinned boy paled. "I want to watch Roman Holiday with Regan." Neal "Thunderbird" Sharra hailed from a wealthy family in Bangladesh and could convert ambient heat to plasma and fly. Despite his explosive abilities, he preferred to play it safe and not cause a scene.

"Hey! Girl in a wheelchair over here! Doesn't my opinion count for something?" A blue-eyed girl shouted, attracting the attention of her teammates. Andrea "Andi" Creed was marked as a mutant by her two-toned blond hair and sapphire blue scaly skin. Her shapeshifting and hydrokinesis earned her the codename Atlantis. Though normally quite physically active, the Canadian-born, Texas-raised girl was confined to a wheelchair for the time being. She had been shot twice on a recent mission and couldn't move her left arm or right leg too much, for fear the stitches would rip out.

"Shoot!" Bryan hissed. "I'm sorry, Andi. What do you want to watch?"

"I think we should plug in Undercover Blues." Andi stated. "All of you seemed to like that last time we watched it."

"Your choice is good enough for me." The final member of the group spoke up, his green eyes raking over the blue-skinned girl across from him. Vincent James could possess machines and computors and mentally control their actions. That ability earned the English mutant the nickname Virus.

"For once, the nerd has a point." Neal said. "Let's go with Andi's choice."

"I still wanna watch my movie." Bryan said.

"Tough luck, you're outvoted." Kristen glared. "Hey, Neal, can you find that tape for us? You're the closest to the video cabinet."

Neal did as he was told, and the others settled down to watch the movie. Bryan even picked Andi up out of the wheelchair and set her on the couch. Next to him.

Virus watched the pair from the armchair across the room and seethed. What did she see in that backwoods idiot? Hell, what did she see in the whole lot of them? She was a goddess, so why mess with the underlings? All she needed was perfection. All she needed was him.

And yet she still chose to lay her head on the ape's shoulders. Granted, Chaos's shoulders were a lot more muscular and probably softer than his own, but he still couldn't get over it. Why him? Dyslexic, rarely clean, and without any good sense—he was a classic charity case.

Charity. That must be it. She felt sorry for the big oaf. Well, she needed to stop. But how to convince her? She wasn't the type to be bossed around.

Maybe he was after the wrong target? Bryan was certainly easier to scare than Andi. He could be intimidated by intelligence. Yes, it was the perfect plan. Now how to carry it out?

"I love this part!" Kristen grinned. "Come on, Jeff, beat him up!"

"His real name is Dennis Quaid, Kris." Andi said as she laid her legs across Bryan's lap. "Do you mind if I use you as a pillow, Ry?"

"Na." He shook his head. "Go right ahead."

"Excuse me." The pair looked up to see Vincent standing behind them.

"What?" Bryan asked.

"Step away from my girl, and I'll let you off easy." Virus said.

"What are you doing?" Bryan asked. "We're trying to watch a movie. Besides, I can't really get her off of me right now. You'll have to wait another twenty minutes or so."

"I don't think you understand me, bloke." Vincent glared, pulling a newly-fashioned pen-gun from behind his back. "Let her go now and no one gets hurt."

"The only one who'll be hurting is you, Vince, now will you please go away?" Andi said. "We're missing one of the best parts of the movie because of you."

"Dear, I understand your impulse to take on such a sad case as he, but it is time you realized how worthless a relationship with him could be." Vincent replied. "He can't love you like I can."

"What?!" Andi and Bryan yelped in unison.

"What are you talking about?" Andi blinked.

"Have you lost it?" Bryan asked.

"Get up, Dukes!" Virus shouted, pointing the gun at the invulnerable mutant's head. Bryan stared.

"You realize this is stupid, right? That thing can't hurt me."

"I want you to get up, you big monkey!" Virus squealed, jumping up and down. "Out, out, out!"

"You are blowing this way out of proportion, Virus." Kristen said. "There isn't a romantic ion between those two."

"Yeah, there's nothin." Mitch agreed. "Not like that anyway."

"Vince, please listen. I am not interested in her." Bryan said. "She's like a sister to me! Why would I date my sister?"

"Still, I will take that seat." Virus hissed.

"Get your twisted little self away from me!" Andi growled. "I will not put up with this kind of crap. I am no damsel in distress. I am no trophy to be won and flaunted. I am not your maid, your secret lover, or your any kind of lover for that matter. I decide who and how I love, and I have decided that I want you to go back to your side of the room before I have Neal and Mitch make you!"

"You want me!" Vincent smiled. "You really want me!"

"Just GO, Virus!" Andi glared, her voice sounding like the growl of a feral cat. Virus retreated to his side of the room, and pondered these strange events. He also pulled out a tape recorder he had stashed in his vest. He hit the play button.

"I want you." Stop. Rewind. Repeat.

"I want you."

"And I want you too." He smiled, paying no heed to anyone else in the room.


End file.
